Exe.dev

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

What exe.dev Is Supposed to Be

  • SSH-first subscription service that gives you Linux VMs with persistent disks, sudo, and no per-VM marginal cost.
  • Multiple VMs share a fixed pool of CPU/RAM per account (e.g., 2 CPUs / 8GB across up to 25 VMs on individual plan).
  • Intended for quick experiments that can seamlessly become long-lived, internet-facing services.

UX and Developer Experience

  • Many users praise the “ssh exe.dev → you’re in” flow as unusually smooth and “magical,” especially the built‑in coding agent (Shelley) with screenshot support and a simple web UI.
  • Ability to instantly share HTTP services via managed TLS and link-based access is seen as a major convenience for demos and “perfect software for an audience of one.”
  • Some confusion coming from the initial shell being an exe.dev control REPL, not a VM shell; real shell requires connecting to the specific VM.

Architecture and Technical Details

  • Backed by KVM VMs using a crosvm‑derived VMM; earlier docs mentioning Kata/Cloud Hypervisor are acknowledged as outdated.
  • VMs can do “real VM things” like TUN devices; no custom kernels yet.
  • No per‑VM public IPv4; HTTP is proxied via exe.xyz with optional public exposure and CNAME support. Public IPs and IPv6 are planned but nontrivial.
  • SSH routing to vmname.exe.xyz is done via an SSH multiplexing layer; commenters infer sshpiper-style machinery.

Auth, Sharing, and Security Concerns

  • First SSH with any key prompts for email verification; that key becomes your identity.
  • HTTP access can be: fully public, email‑gated, or via share links that require registration; links don’t auto‑revoke existing users.
  • Some worry about it being a “honeypot” tying SSH keys to identities; others note you can use dedicated keys and that it’s a normal paid service model.

Pricing, Value, and Comparisons

  • Confusion over whether resource limits are per VM or per account; clarified as per account, shared by all VMs.
  • Some see $20/month as expensive versus Hetzner/OVH DO-style VPS (more disk, often unmetered bandwidth); others think the UX and integrated agent/HTTPS/auth justify it.
  • Requests for cheaper, smaller individual tiers and/or usage-based pricing; 100GB bandwidth/month is viewed as tight for public sites.

Website, Docs, and Onboarding Feedback

  • Strong complaints that the landing page is cryptic (“ssh exe.dev” plus faint text, poor contrast), with pricing/docs buried and mobile UX buggy for some.
  • Others like the minimalism and think “ssh exe.dev” is self‑explanatory for the target audience.
  • Docs and blog are incomplete and in some places inconsistent with current implementation; founders say the launch was earlier than planned and docs are being updated.

Reliability, Limits, and Future Work

  • Persistence: disks are replicated to a disk cluster; exact durability model and frequency of replication still being tuned and not fully documented.
  • Occasional early network issues observed (e.g., DNS/Go module timeouts), reportedly fixed.
  • Feature roadmap includes public IPv4, IPv6, better cloning/base images, more docs, and posts detailing the SSH proxying and VM internals.